It shows when you are most vulnerable. Maybe it’s during a roll off Flea bag‘s season 2, episode 5 confession scene where Phoebe Waller-Bridge finally meets up with Andrew Scott’s “hot priest.” Or maybe it’s slapped on a TikTok by an industrial hydraulic press crushing some gummy bears. No matter what, it’s always the video caption that grabs you without quite knowing why: “Tesla Cybertruck is an all-electric battery-powered light-duty truck.”
In the past few months, Instagram and TikTok users have been inundated with posts with the same caption, an apparently AI-generated section about Tesla’s Cybertruck that provides a “comprehensive overview of its key features and specifications.” The caption can be applied to anything and appears seemingly at random, creating the unsettling effect of Elon Musk lurking around every digital corner. However, this isn’t because legions of social media users have suddenly become crazed Cybertruck punches (although there certainly are some of those, too). Rather, it is a technique for spam accounts to game the algorithm and increase their engagement. Heatmap has contacted the owners of some of these accounts and we will update if and when we receive a response.
Allow me to explain: According to the social media experts Redditwhile hashtags were once an easy way for accounts to get more clicks without having to spend too much time producing actual content, they are now out of fashion. Instead, both Instagram and TikTok have started to reward posts with original captions – that is, those that would get someone to stay on a post for a longer time or even save it. It can be easy for influencers, who have their own voices and curated audiences, but not so much for “spam accounts” who only repost what’s already popular. The solution? A well-written section on the Cybertruck, of course!
A similar trend was underway at the beginning of the year, when accounts began to post a lot similar section about the Mercedes CLR GTR, which is probably a mistranscription of the Mercedes CLK GTR, a rare internal combustion engine racing vehicle from the 1990s. This may mean that the Tesla text will not last long either, especially as apps shift more and more towards prioritizing originality. (Funny, Musk thought (That shift was a terrible idea when Instagram announced it this spring, claiming that there’s virtually no originality to be found on these platforms.)
At some point, Zuckerberg’s algorithm will realize that no one is actually that interested in the Cybertruck, and the caption will lose its power. As for what car will be next, I’m hoping for Ford’s Mustang Mach-E. Who doesn’t love a classic car set up for the post-fossil fuel era, am I right?